I'm still using my Xonar. Whether it'll survive into my new build, I haven't decided yet.

I'm not sure you need a dedicated PCI-E soundcard in 2022 for a PC. There are so many external DACs and amps that you can plug in through USB that are amazing.

Still, I'm extremely happy with my setup. It's probably the best soundcard ever made, Asus Essence STX II. It's an internal PCI-E card with a separate 4-pin power input. Its headphone amp is rated all the way up to 600 ohm headphones, and its SnR is 124dB, which if you believe their own claims, is 64x the clarity of on-board audio rated at 88dB (this claim seems dated, then again this card came out 7 years ago).

I would never have thought about using it or buying it, if I didn't have good headphones with high impedance. It would be a complete waste of money otherwise.

Back some years ago, on-board audio was pretty bad when listening with decent gear. The EM interference from PC components was audible for sure. The hissing got worse with temperature too, it was crazy. Nowadays, they may have solved the problem, but considering the alternatives (like an external USB DAC/amp), I still wouldn't use onboard audio unless I really had to.

My advice, go USB DAC, ignore soundcards and onboard audio.

Yes there is a difference in the audio from that video, but like others have said it was mostly insignificant. Small things like: less echo on the bow draw but retaining the echo on the arrow flying sound and hit, softer foot fall sounds, clearer voice, better positional audio, etc..

You don't need a better sound card to hear the difference, you need better speakers/headphones. But in this case, I wouldn't worry about it if you're happy with what you've got.


If you want great clean audio get an external DAC.
If you want fancy effects and maybe slightly cleaner than your mobo audio get a sound blaster. I have one, and it is nice, but I don't use it often.

Instead I use a receiver connected via HDMI. It's convenient for me and it lets me switch between devices, as well as speakers vs headphones easily. Also great clean sound that is definitely better than the SB.

For additional info, the comp I'm using I got in 2010, so it's older. I'm heading towards buying a new cpu, mobo and ram, and may start a new thread on advice, but for now I was just struck by how I didn't notice a damn thing in that sound sample. Maybe a 1% difference, but nothing remotely worth caring about. A bunch of posters in a Thief thread had remarked on the "clear" difference, confusing me.

So, I wasted a whole bunch of time reading up on openAL and DSOAL about mimicking eax via software, only to finally learn that the TFIX patch for Thief gold already allows you to enable the eax setting. All I've noticed so far is there seems to be a lot more echoing. : /

FWIW, I'm not sure exactly what speakers I have, having bought them so long ago, but going just by looks, I think it may be Logitech X-230 2.1 Channel Computer Speakers. I don't have to worry about sound bothering my roommate, but I also don't have an expensive sound system. I also never use headphones (though I've sometimes thought about getting some for when I watch politics or porn).

Would a $20 DAC add a whole lot to a two speaker/subwoofer system? I'm guessing it wouldn't.

Sound cards, now there's a topic.

I assume you're saying sound card vs integrated chip? Back in the day, you had to have a sound card if you didn't want terrible PC Speaker sound as your primary form of music and effects. Midi sounded like crap, though that's more the weak soundfonts they put in the default soundcards probably equaling 32k or so of ROM data, though the exact amount i'm not sure. Hearing music generated from a midi file from a 2Mb Soundfont file or running into a keyboard using the Midi interface sounded phenominal i can tell you; At least in comparison.

Should you use a separate sound card? Hard to say. There were $100+ Soundblaster Live cards back 15 years ago, which people went to check how the storm was going to be only to realize the lightning they heard was from the computer from the bootup theme. Heh. Though when i touched one i didn't notice any particular difference in audio. Then again i didn't compare the same sample side by side to find out.

I suppose it's 3 parts to have decent sound. A good card helps, good speakers help, and proper volume control. I remember sound coming out like crap, only to see they had the minimum output on the speaker and maximum output on the computer, resulting in a lot of... well, let's just say undesirable outputs. Balancing it to make it sound nice, isn't hard when you know where to look.

Honestly, i don't think a dedicated sound card would be worth it. Not unless you got some job that requires it. Same for a high quality microphone. But that's just me.

Analog cables doesn't make the sound shitty, 3,5 mm or not. How did you test that? If you just replace them with digital then you're using a different DAC.

I have old good Xonar DSX and can tell, its sound quality is significantly better in comparison to integrated "HD" audio codec on the motherboard.

You don't need HiFi acoustics to notice the difference, any above-average system will be enough.

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As an alternative option, you can purchase speakers with built-in DAC and output port for headphones. However, dedicated sound card provides more flexibility.

To use any DAC, your motherboard should have digital sound output. Otherwise, you will still need an audio card with digital port to be able to connect your DAC.

Agreed. Analog does not make sound shitty, nor does digital automatically make it better. It all depends on the capabilities on the DAC you are using... or if you work (and use your audio system) in a nuclear power plant. Because analog is prone to interference and static, while digital is not. But then again you could just get shielded analog cables when faced with that problem.

There's this digital output all motherboards have, and it's called USB :P. The age of USB DACs is now.

According to user reviews ( on Amazon and other resources ), USB is not very reliable for sound output. It is recommended to use S/PDIF instead.

In addition, PCI and PCI-over-PCI-E audio cards work better ( in terms of stability ) than USB and USB-over-PCI-E cards.

Anything starting with "According to user reviews ( on Amazon and other resources )", I'd take with large grain of salt... maybe two :).

It's not USB which is unreliable, it's the motherboard vendor's implementation of it. So if you're stuck with platforms that have USB problems, such as early Ryzen boards, then yes, you'll have issues with any type of USB device. It's also recommended that you don't use USB DACs with splitters and/or front I/O USBs, rather stick to the USB ports on the motherboard itself. You shouldn't have any issues otherwise. I have used a USB DAC for ages with my headphones (due to a broken 3.5" jack on my laptop...) and it's been remarkably reliable and issue free... in Linux of all places!

I didn't say that. 3.5mm tends to be lower quality sound, though.

Analog audio jacks are used throughout the music industry (and in instruments)... so... not sure what you have against them :). It's just a medium, the problem is in the logic that builds the carrier signal, and some cards do have worse analog outputs. But it's not a "3.5mm jack" problem.

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I was pondering a few years ago if I should get a USB DAC or not. I was eyeing the excellent (IMO) FiiO K3. But then I've seen this video, Audio Delay In Games (TLDR: onboard audio has the lowest audio delay in games), and I was like "Neah, I'm good, I'll stick with my onboard audio". Using decent headphones, I compared two systems and the audio quality is about the same as a smartphone, and my understanding is that smartphones have pretty decent audio DACs.